August 15, 2017

Tuesday Tips: Georgetown McDonough Fall 2018 MBA Essay Tips

Georgetown McDonough School of Business’s location in Washington D.C. puts the school at the center of public policy and international business. The program requires all students to be part of the Global Business Experience, an international consulting project. Georgetown also has the Steers Global Real Estate Center and new entrepreneurship initiative.

Along with the academic and career benefits of the school, Georgetown’s community is close-knit, intellectually curious and diverse.

Essay One: Please answer the following essay question in 500 words or less: “Describe a defining moment when you were challenged and exceeded expectations.” The moment can be a professional or personal one. If personal, then please also include how it had an impact on your professional development.

Rather than a generic career goals essay, Georgetown would like to know how you have developed as a professional and the moments that were defining. Read about current students defining moments on the Georgetown McDonough admissions blog.

We all have pivotal moments in our careers, and often they were painful as they were occurring. Perhaps you were asked to take on a project in a subject area you knew nothing about. Or you managed an employee who was more experienced than you. You might have joined a team that did not welcome your contributions. How did you take those professional challenges and turn them around to success? What tools did you use or develop to do so? Make sure you reflect a bit on your own development and what you learned in the process.

Video Essay: Please introduce yourself to your future Georgetown MBA cohort in a one minute video. The Admissions Committee would like for you to appear in person during part of your video, and we strongly encourage you to speak outside of the experiences we can read on your resume. You may paste the link to your Youtube or Vimeo video in your application. Please note that we cannot accept private or password protected videos. For more instructions, view our Video Essay Guide.

Georgetown’s video essay guide specifically asks you to appear in the one-minute video and to address situations outside your resume. However, you will have unlimited time to record and edit this video (unlike a video interview). While you have been asked to show yourself in the video, you may add other elements aside from your talking head, including interviews with family and friends, photos or graphics and music.

Like all interactive MBA admissions essays, the content is the most important aspect of this exercise. The admissions committee wants to get to know you and your dreams, background and personality. Think about personal stories that would not come through in your resume, recommendations or your written essays. Perhaps you have a family story to tell, a hobby you are passionate about or a significant extracurricular responsibility.

This is also the ideal place to demonstrate your fit with Georgetown. Can you take your hobbies to school and share with your classmates? Will your background add to the diversity of the class? Or can you open doors for your classmates professionally? Always think about your own contributions to Georgetown.

If you can demonstrate enthusiasm as you speak to the camera and add other elements to the video it should be compelling to the admissions committee.

Optional Essay One: If you are not currently employed full-time, use this essay to provide information about your current activities. (250 words or fewer)

This essay is specifically for those who are not employed full-time when submitting this application. This is not meant for any past gaps in employment, low grades, GMAT issues or any other element to your profile.

If you are not currently employed full-time you can explain what you are spending your time on here. Ideally you are volunteering, engaging in an entrepreneurial activity, or another professional pursuit. If you are taking time to help care for a family member or children, that’s legitimate too. Whatever the situation, make sure you are able to talk about how you plan to transition back to school and full-time employment post-MBA.

Optional Essay Two: Please provide any information you would like to add to your application that you have not otherwise included. (500 words or fewer)

This is an entirely open-ended optional essay. Most optional essays ask for an explanation for a gap in employment, the lack of a current supervisor recommendation, or academic issues. If you do want to address any of those elements to your application this is the ideal place.

If you do not have anything to explain about your overall application you may want to use this space to highlight another aspect of your experience at work or in your extracurricular activities. Perhaps you have an amazing leadership experience you want to discuss. Or a learning experience that was not covered in essay one.

There is no obligation to use the space, however, so do not write an essay just to add more for the admissions committee to read. If you do use this space to elaborate on your application profile, do not recycle essays from other schools that ask specific and recognizable questions.

Re-Applicant Essay: Required for re-applicants. How have you strengthened your candidacy since your last application? We are particularly interested in hearing about how you have grown professionally and personally. (500 words or fewer)

Many candidates can write about a specific improvement since your last application like a promotion, improved GMAT, or increased responsibilities or experience. Georgetown is also interested in the less tangible improvements like a revised career goal, personal growth or increase in maturity. Make sure you are able to make the case that you are now ready for a Georgetown MBA and that any new development has only strengthened your resolve.

If you are looking for MBA application guidance but are always on the go, consider downloading the audio version of The MBA Application Roadmap. Now you can develop your admissions strategy while you exercise, clean up or during your morning commute.